 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yasuhiro Kojima (1937-07-22)July 22, 1937 |
| Died | November 27, 1999(1999-11-27) (aged 62) Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Colon cancer |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ernesto Kojima Hiro Matsuda |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Billed weight | 231 lb (105 kg) |
| Trained by | Diablo Velasco[1] Rikidōzan Karl Gotch |
| Debut | 1957 |
| Retired | 1990 |
Yasuhiro Kojima (小島 泰弘,Kojima Yasuhiro) (July 22, 1937 – November 27, 1999), best known by hisring nameHiro Matsuda (ヒロ・マツダ,Hiro Matsuda), was a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, trainer, and booker.
Yasuhiro Kojima (小島 泰弘,Kojima Yasuhiro) was born inYokohama. He attended Ebara High School in theŌta ward ofTokyo, where he was an acepitcher on thebaseball team.
After graduating high school, Kojima joinedRikidōzan'sJapan Pro Wrestling in 1957, but left in 1960 due to his dissatisfaction with the highly-hierarchical nature of the Japanese wrestling scene.[2] Kojima then went toPeru, where he worked asErnesto Kojima. Later, after moving toMexico through theUnited States, the ring name was changed to Kojima Saito, Great Matsuda, and eventually Hiro Matsuda.[2] The name “Matsuda” was a ring name given to two Japanese wrestlers active in the mainland of America, “Sorakichi Matsuda” in the 1880s andManjiro "Matty" Matsuda in the 1920s.
When wrestling in Mexico, he had matches against the legendary luchadorEl Santo, and he later studied withKarl Gotch in the United States in order to learncatch-as-catch-can andsubmission wrestling. During this period he learned one of his finishing maneuvers, theGerman suplex hold. Kojima adopted his Hiro Matsuda identity while competing in thesouthern United States, inspired by earlier wrestlersSorakichi Matsuda and Matty Matsuda. Over this period he would also wrestle occasionally in Japan, where he formed a tag team withAntonio Inoki.
Matsuda was the first ethnically-Japanese wrestler to win aNational Wrestling Alliance world singles title when he won itsJunior Heavyweight Championship on July 11, 1964, in Tampa, Florida by defeatingDanny Hodge, which he held until dropping it on November 13 toAngelo Savoldi. On December 10, Matsuda's match againstNWA World Heavyweight ChampionLou Thesz inJacksonville, Florida, ended without a winner as a result of a time limit draw.[3] He would win a second title in 1975 by defeatingKen Mantell, also later losing the belt to Hodge, whom he had a series of matches with.[2][4] In the late 60s, Matsuda worked as part of a tag team withThe Missouri Mauler, facingheelsRip Hawk andSwede Hanson.[4]
Matsuda settled in Florida in 1962 and trained neophytes at the old Sportatorium in Tampa, home of the Championship Wrestling from Florida television program.[4] Matsuda was famous for being verystiff with his trainees to toughen them up. His most famous student wasHulk Hogan, breaking his leg to show the seriousness of professional wrestling.[5] Matsuda wouldn't let wrestlers train with him unless they did 1,000 pushups and 1,000 squats.[6] Matsuda could also do hundreds of push-ups and squats in his 60s.[2] Other wrestlers he trained includedB. Brian Blair,Bob Orton Jr.,Dick Slater,Hercules,Mike Graham,Paul Orndorff,Riki Choshu,Ron Simmons,Lex Luger,Scott Casey,Scott Hall,Ted DiBiase andThe Great Muta.[2][4][7]
In 1987, he began working withJim Crockett Promotions as aheel to participate in a feud between his discipleLex Luger andDusty Rhodes. During the feud, he was billed as "The Master of the Japanese Sleeper," asleeper hold. During a match within the feud, Matsuda lockedJohnny Weaver, who was in Rhodes' corner for one of the matches, in the hold, and the prolonged application of the hold caused Weaver to bleed profusely from the mouth.[2] In the coming years, Matsuda worked forWorld Championship Wrestling as themanager in early 1989 for theYamasaki Corporation (a renamed Four Horsemen) as well as working withTerry Funk'sstable,The J-Tex Corporation, as their business agent fromJapan.[8] His last match was againstOsamu Kido at the age of 53 on December 26, 1990, inHamamatsu, Japan, in an event that also featuredLou Thesz, who also wrestled his last professional match, andNick Bockwinkel.
Kojima died at his home inTampa, Florida, on November 27, 1999, ofcolon cancer and liver cancer; he was 62 years old.[6][7]
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